50 yuan and a cigarette
by jellysunfish
Summary: In which Ye Xiu shamelessly squats at Excellent Era and Sun Xiang is an unwilling bed-landlord (slight sx/yx) T for some swearing, innuendos


(1)

Sun Xiang came back to his new room after dinner at Excellent Era's cafeteria. After yesterday's celebration of his coming, today had been a full day of adjusting to his new location, his new position, his new account, and his new teammates. It was exhausting to say the least, and he wanted nothing more than to conk out on his pillow for a full 8 hours.

He kicked off his shoes by the door and flopped down backwards onto his bed. But instead of falling into the soft mattress, he fell with a loud smack against hard bone and warm flesh.

"Ouch," came from the the person underneath whom he had just body slammed.

Sun Xiang scrambled off the bed. "Who the f*ck?!"

"Oh, it's Xiang-ge. Hi." The recently ousted Ye Qiu rubbed his eyes sleepily. His dark bedhead stuck up in strange ways as he sat up from his curled up position underneath the comforter.

"You- Why are you in my room?!" He snatched up his pillow and threw it at the sleepy intruder.

Ye Qiu caught the pillow easily and cuddled it under his chin. "It was my room first," he offered.

Sun Xiang felt his eye twitch. "How did you get into the building?! You _left_ last night."

The so called Glory Textbook may have won three championships in a row, but he had long since fallen, dragging Excellent Era down with him in his antiquity. He had been rid of the previous night, and Sun Xiang had made himself comfortable in the captain's quarters with the knowledge that he was going to bring Excellent Era back to its former glory.

Ye Qiu merely smiled. "I've been avoiding the media for nearly eight years now. I know all the ways to sneak into the building."

Sun Xiang scowled. "But only I have the key to this door."

Ye Qiu held up a small victory sign with his fingers. "I'm good at picking locks."

Sun Xiang suddenly felt the urge to punch him. "This is still MY room! Get out now!" He opened the door, none too subtly showing the way out.

"Okay, okay," the retired god held up his hands letting the pillow fall back onto the bed. "It's almost time for my shift anyway. Have a good sleep, Xiang-ge." He slipped out of the bed and stepped on the heel of his sneakers, ambling out the door.

Sun Xiang slammed it shut behind him and groaned as he flopped back into his bed. It still smelled of Ye Qiu. His hand brushed something crinkly. He brought it up to his face. It was an empty candy wrapper.

He wrenched open the door and angrily threw the wrapper out into the hallway in the direction in which Ye Qiu had gone. It fluttered harmlessly to the floor.

"DON'T LEAVE YOUR TRASH IN MY BED!"

(2)

Sun Xiang got back from another day's practice to find someone sleeping in his bed. Again.

"Why are you here again? Get out!"

Ye Qiu yawned and his eyes got a little teary. "Don't kick me out, Xiang-ge. I'm literally homeless now thanks to you." He looked up at Sun Xiang with teary puppy dog eyes.

Sun Xiang was impervious to such childish tactics. "Not my problem. Go find a hotel or something."

"Xiang-ge," he drawled, "You don't realize how broke I am. Listen, let me stay here and sleep during the day and you can have the bed while I take the night shift. I'll give you 50 yuan and a cigarette a day." He rummaged around in his pocket and pulled out some change.

50 yuan and a cigarette? Who would accept such a terrible offer from an illegal trespasser at that? Sun Xiang didn't even smoke!

His jaw set. "No. You don't work here anymore. You could have stayed as a training partner, but you chose to leave. Go find a new job that provides housing."

"But other jobs don't let me play Glory during work hours," he whined.

"Don't care. Don't sleep in my bed again. Go away."

He pouted and reluctantly got up to leave. "Xiang-ge is so mean."

(3)

The third night he found Ye Qiu in his bed, he directly pulled the covers off and tried to push him off the edge.

"Xiang-ge, it's too cold. Give back the covers." He flailed at the edge of the bedframe, trying to cling to the sheets.

"Why can't you just leave like a normal person?!"

Ye Qiu was supposed to be done. Retired with the implication that he would not be returning. Gone for good. So why did he have to keep breaking into his room and harassing him like this?! None of the other members of Excellent Era were being haunted by this freak. It's not like he did anything worse than what those other guys were doing the night of Ye Qiu's "departure". That's right, he had only known Ye Qiu in person for a few hours!

"If people rent out their cars for ridesharing and their apartments for apartment sharing, then what's wrong with bedsharing?"

"What's the problem?! The problem is that I never gave my consent to share with you! And besides, sharing a bed is too..." he trailed off.

"Oh. Xiang-ge is unexpectedly pure, huh?"

"I was going to say sweaty!"

(4)

[Anonymous Gecko 21:47:09]: There's this asshole freeloader sleeping in my room who refuses to leave. How the f*ck do I get rid of him?

[Anonymous Eagle]: burn down the building

[Anonymous Axolotl]: might I suggest blackmail?

[Anonymous Emu]: YEET him out the window

[Anonymous Crab]: crabs. everywhere.

Sun Xiang scowled as he scrolled through the responses on the anonymous help forum. All these responses were f*ckin' useless. He'd probably get sued for burning down the building, he didn't have any of Ye Qiu's personal information that he could use against him, the window didn't open wide enough to yeet him out of, and just where was he supposed to get live crabs from?

Goddammit. This was why he didn't go to the internet for help.

(5)

To be fair, the two women from Excellent Dynasty's upper echelons sitting at the lunch table behind him in Excellent Era's cafeteria had been very loud in their daily gossipping.

"Did you know? They say that there have been sightings of the ghost of Ye Qiu roaming the halls. He only appears late at night and is seen lingering around where his old room used to be."

She glanced not-so-subtly at Sun Xiang who was just trying to eat his goddamn soup in peace, thank you very much.

"They say he's come back to haunt the new captain to seek vengeance for his death."

"Oh my god, how did he die?"

"Some say that he froze to death, some say it was a car accident." She lowered her voice for dramatic effect. "Some say... Excellent Era had him poisoned."

Hmph. Such stupid nonsense. There was no way Ye Qiu was a ghost.

But then again... he had never actually seen Ye Qiu break in. He couldn't really be phasing through walls and all that, right?

(6)

Ye Xiu woke up to a face full of salt. He coughed and rubbed his eyes with his sleeve, immediately regretting it when his eyes started to sting.

"Xiang-ge, no matter how much you season them, eating people is morally wrong."

Sun Xiang ignored him and threw another fistful of salt. "Begone evil spirit!"

"...Are you trying to exorcise me?"

(7)

It was coincidental that he happened to be close enough to smell Ye Qiu's hair, but what he smelled was the distinctive fruity scent that he used for his own long locks. Was this shameless guy using his shampoo?!

Come to think of it, Sun Xiang had noticed that his shampoo seemed a bit thinner lately, as though someone had added water in it to stretch out the lifespan, even though by his rough calculations he should only be halfway finished with the bottle.

"Hey! Have you been using my shampoo?!"

"Of course not," Ye Qiu shamelessly lied to his face. "I like the scent so I got the same one."

Sun Xiang narrowed his eyes. He would catch Ye Qiu red handed and teach him a lesson.

(8)

He miscalculated. It turned out that dark hair needed to be bleached first before colors would show up.

Ye Qiu came out of the shower the following night with fresh fruity smelling black hair as always.

Sun Xiang, on the other hand, had to deal with pink highlights in his hair for the next two weeks.

(7)

Today when he came back to his room, he found Ye Qiu not sleeping in his bed but peering into the dark screen of his desktop.

He was about to shove him out the door when the man turned. Ye Qiu's right eye was swollen shut by a puffy red bruise.

Sun Xiang snapped his jaw shut, swallowing the insult he was about to hurl.

"What the hell happened to you?"

The man shrugged. "Liu Hao found me at my workplace. He was drunk, and he's always had a grudge against me, but I didn't think he had it in him to actually punch me. I'm kind of impressed." He poked at the edge of the redness with his finger and winced at the touch.

Sun Xiang thought daily about punching Ye Qiu, but that didn't mean that he was actually going to hit someone violently in the face. He grimaced, suddenly disgusted by the vice-captain's conduct.

Sun Xiang grabbed Ye Qiu by the shoulders and man-handled him onto the bed.

"Sit. Stay."

"Woof," Ye Qiu barked cheekily, even as his half-beaten expression showed signs of confusion.

Sun Xiang pointed at him accusingly while backing out of the room. "Don't you dare move."

(8)

Sun Xiang tossed the bag of frozen corn into Ye Qiu's lap fifteen minutes later.

"What's wrong with you guys. You don't even have a decent ice pack around here."

He had searched both the infirmary and the kitchen, but what kind of shit facility was this that they didn't even have a simple ice pack? He thought that they would at least have a bag of ice somewhere, but all he could find was someone's personal stash of frozen corn.

Ye Qiu stared down at the frozen vegetables looking bewildered.

"What's wrong with you? Don't tell me you also have brain damage?"

That seemed to snap Ye Qiu out of his stupor. He slowly pressed the frozen mass to his swollen eye.

"Thank you, Sun Xiang."

Was that actual gratitude he was hearing from the god of shamelessness? Maybe Ye Qiu was a halfway decent person after all.

"It turns out that you do care about me, don't you, Xiang-ge~" His teasing smile somehow looked even more amused than normal.

"What?!" he spluttered, "N-No! I just remembered... that I was hungry! For some frozen corn!" He snatched the bag from Ye Qiu's hand. "Give me half of that!"

He took it back. He took everything back.

Ye Qiu was laughing at him as he ripped open the package. He poured out a handful into his palm and shoved the cold kernels into his mouth before thrusting the corn in the other's direction, turning away as Ye Qiu tied the bag into a knot and again pressed it to his eye.

With his head stubbornly facing the window, he missed the small but grateful smile the man had thrown over his shoulder as he toed on his shoes and bade the younger a good night.

(9)

Ye Qiu's bruise had turned an ugly shade of black and blue by the next night.

Seeing the man's pitiful appearance, Sun Xiang decided to hold back a little on the usual verbal assaults. When it came time for him to leave for work, he accompanied Ye Qiu down the stairs to the side door of Excellent Era.

"Xiang-ge, are you trying to be a little duckling, following me around everywhere?"

Sun Xiang gave an annoyed huff. "You should be grateful that I'm spending my precious time to accompany you. Isn't it dangerous roaming around here alone? What if you run into Liu Hao again? You should just rent a hotel room already."

Ye Qiu put his hands over his heart with a mock gasp. "Xiang-ge, you're worried about my safety?"

He snorted. "Of course not. You're just so ugly looking with that black eye. If you had another one, I'd surely go blind. I'm only looking out for myself. But even better would be if you just left."

"Hehe, Xiang-ge is a good kid," the dark haired god ignored his protests and patted Sun Xiang on the head as if he were a child. "See you tomorrow!" He carefully looked both ways before he ran out across the street.

"Don't come back!" he hollered.

(10)

It was worrying that even after two weeks that Ye Qiu's black eye wasn't getting any better. The swelling had gone down by quite a bit, but it still looked just as blackened as the second day. Sun Xiang was beginning to wonder if something was actually wrong with that guy, but Ye Qiu just continued on as usual.

He threw a frozen gel pack at the lump in his bed. The lump groaned.

"Oof, Xiang-ge. Didn't anyone teach you not to throw things?" He rolled over and picked up the icy gel pack. Sun Xiang had bought several from the convenience store down the street and had taken to bringing one up from the freezer when he returned to his room each night.

"Ice your stupid bruise. It's already been so long, I'm sick of looking at your ugly face."

Ye Qiu laughed as he brought the ice pack to his face. "You're cute when you're all tsundere like that."

What the hell was tsundere? Well, no matter what it meant, Sun Xiang was Not Cute.

"Am not."

A smirk. "Are too."

He groaned. "Ugh, this is not worth my time. If your stupid black eye isn't better by tomorrow, I'm going to replace the blankets with scratchy ones until you go get it checked."

"Eh? Not the blankets!" Ye Qiu clutched at the soft bedding protectively. "Xiang-ge, I'm so piteously injured. You wouldn't really do such a horrid thing, would you? This is my only solace after Glory."

He snorted. "Just try me."

Ye Qiu mustered up some fake tears to add to his wretched appearance. "Xiang-ge..."

A round teardrop dripped down his cheek, leaving behind a trail of _Ye Qiu's black eye._

Ye Qiu wiped away the tear with his hand, smearing the black across his face.

What the-

His eyes bugged out, not quite believing what he was seeing, and out of the corner of his eye, that's when he saw it. A black magic marker lying uncapped on his desk.

"You-!"

It was then that Ye Qiu noticed the ink smudged on his hand.

"Ahahaha... Welpgottago, bye!" He zipped out the door, barely shoving his feet into his shoes and leaving his jacket hanging on the chair.

"YE QIU! YOU LYING ASSHOLE! SEE IF I'M EVER NICE TO YOU AGAIN!"

(11)

He came back to his room the following night, ready to tear a new one into Ye Qiu.

He threw open the door.

"YE QIU!"

A blur zoomed past him. Fifty yuan and a cigarette were shoved into his palms.

"ByethankshaveagoodnightXiangge!"

Sun Xiang narrowed his eyes at his rumpled bed covers and the man's jacket laying on the floor.

That Ye Qiu... he would definitely make sure he'd get what was coming to him.

(12)

Upon seeing Su Mucheng in the cafeteria, he marched straight up to her.

"Where's Ye Qiu?" he demanded.

She looked down on him haughtily.

"Why should I tell you?"

Sun Xiang didn't really have the best relationship with Ye Qiu's former partner. Su Mucheng had never publicly announced her dislike of him, but it was seen in the subtle ways that she stood apart from him and refused to respect his captaincy.

He scowled. "Ye Qiu hasn't been in my bed for three days. Tell him he needs to get his ass back to my room so I can smack him like he deserves."

She turned away from him with a hmph! and started walking away toward the practice rooms.

He followed after her.

"Where is he? He better not be dead in a ditch somewhere. Tell me where he is," he insisted.

He cornered her at the elevators. She jabbed the up button, but was trapped between him and the not-opening doors.

"Well?"

Finally she turned to glare at him. "He's sick, okay?"

"Sick?"

The image of Ye Qiu's winter jacket left in a pile on his floor flashed through his mind.

"That idiot..." he muttered under his breath. Then louder, "Take me to him."

Su Mucheng narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

Sun Xiang crossed his arms defensively. "Don't look at me like that. I'm not going to hit a sick person."

"So why do you want to see him then?"

Sun Xiang opened his mouth and then closed it again. If he wasn't going to hit Ye Qiu, then what did he want to see him for?

"Rent," he decided. "He owes me rent."

Su Mucheng gave a deep sigh. "I told him before he could stay in my room for free but... ugh, fine, come with me."

(13)

The two of them ended up going into Su Mucheng's room.

They found Ye Qiu barefoot in a pair of old gray sweats and a paper face mask, hunched over Su Mucheng's desktop playing Glory.

Su Mucheng put her hands on her hips.

"I told you to stay in bed."

Ye Qiu hastily pulled down his mask exposing his pallid face. He croaked out in a raspy voice, "Boss fight, one sec."

(14)

When Ye Qiu finally peeled himself away from the computer screen, he looked surprised to see Sun Xiang with Mucheng.

"Xiang-ge?"

Su Mucheng grabbed him by the shoulders and steered Ye Qiu back into bed.

"No more Glory until you've recovered," she said sternly.

"But-"

"No buts. Look at you, you're shivering."

Ye Qiu indeed looked pitiful laying pale-faced and trembling among Su Muchengs pastel colored pillows and blankets. It seemed... wrong somehow.

"My bed," he blurted out.

The two partners both had on twin looks of bewilderment.

"Come back to my bed."

He didn't really know what nonsense he was spewing, but it seemed more agreeable than Ye Qiu staying here.

Su Mucheng protested. "What are you saying? It's not like you're gonna take care of him, are you?"

"I..." He trailed off. Was he going to take care of Ye Qiu?

Finally, he answered, "You have a photoshoot tomorrow. I'll watch him and make sure he doesn't get out of bed."

Su Mucheng glanced down at her watch for the date. She muttered a soft curse.

"...You're right," she sighed. She poked her finger on Ye Qiu's forehead causing him to screw up his face. "And I can't trust this guy to stay in bed if he's by himself."

"Xiang-ge, I'll infect you if you let me sleep in your bed," Ye Qiu rasped. He coughed weakly. "I'll be fine by myself, don't worry."

Su Mucheng and Sun Xiang shared a look.

"I'll get his stuff, you take him back."

(15)

"Alright, here goes."

He pulled the reluctant Ye Qiu close to him by the ankle, quickly slid his hands around his knees and back, and then threw Ye Qiu over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Oh my god Xiang-ge, put me down! This is too scary!"

With the blood rushing dizzyingly to his head, Ye Qiu struggled and flailed around, making it hard to carry him. Sun Xiang lightly pinched the back of his legs with his hand.

"Shut up and be obedient."

"Let me down!"

(16)

In the end, the only way Ye Qiu would let him properly carry him back to his room was in a princess carry, with his arms clinging around his neck and his warm, fever-ridden forehead tucked into his shoulder. Ye Qiu was resting his eyes, but he tiredly croaked out directions for the most discreet way back to his room.

Ye Qiu was lighter than he expected, but it was a good thing, since he wasn't sure if he could have carried the man the whole way if he were heavier. Maybe it was time for him to start doing arm workouts.

(17)

Sun Xiang called in sick the next day. The team manager Cui Li reminded him to rest well so that he would be ready for the match at the end of the week and prepared for his captain's duties. What an asshole. He rolled his eyes as he texted back a 'Will do.'

Since he wasn't actually sick, the only thing he could do in his room was solo practice combo drills on his desktop.

"Ah, your reaction time after the ending lag is a bit slow. You can train your awareness of the rhythm by practicing false combos out of it."

"Hey, no backseat drivers!" He scowled. "Shut up and go to sleep."

Ye Qiu pouted, but turned over on the bed. Ugh, what a baby.

With one last glance over to make sure Ye Qiu was really settling down to sleep, he silently took Ye Qiu's suggestion and began practicing in diligence.

(18)

Sun Xiang took three days off to babysit Ye Qiu until he was well enough to go back to work. He had set up camp on the floor, piling up some extra quilts and pillows while Ye Qiu rested in bed. Upon his first day back, he received a lot of giggles and whispers when he went to get lunch at the cafeteria.

"Ye Qiu being kept-"

"-hasn't been in my bed-"

"-smack his ass like he deserves-"

"-out for three days after because they did it so much-"

He ate his rice in silence. What kind of stupid gossip were they talking about now?

(19)

"Xiang-ge, My work finally has a place for me to stay. I'll be moving out tonight. So thanks for rooming with me, I guess."

He had come back to his room to find Ye Qiu packing his meager belongings into a cardboard box.

Sun Xiang stood in shock.

Ye Qiu was finally leaving?

He wanted to jump up and dance in a circle. Ye Qiu was leaving! Really, really leaving! He'd have his room all to himself again, not just hotel rooms during away games! No more tripping over Ye Qiu's sneakers, no more shampoo thievery, no more crazy antics, no more "good night Xiang-ge"s or "good morning Xiang-ge"s, no more smelling Ye Qiu's scent on his pillow...

He would be... all by himself... in Excellent Era...

...

What was this sudden feeling of loneliness? It's not like Ye Qiu was his only friend. He had plenty of friends in Excellent Era! There was... the nice janitor who would tell him to take care when the floors were just mopped? Yup, his best friend! What was his name again?

He blinked and suddenly Ye Qiu was two inches from his face.

"Xiang-ge? Anybody in there?"

He scrambled backwards with a splutter, falling gracelessly on his butt.

"Careful there, Xiang-ge." said Ye Qiu with a smirk. "You can't afford to lose your only brain cell."

"Yeah, well, I can't wait to be rid of you!" he snapped. "This is what I've been waiting for this whole time!"

Ye Qiu paused and gave him a small smile. "I know," he said plainly. "Thanks, Sun Xiang."

He threw one last item into his box and got up to leave. "See you 'round."

(20)

He barely even saw Ye Qiu since their schedules only aligned in the evenings. So why did the room feel ten times more quiet than usual?

He scanned the space. It was clean for once. Just how he liked it.

His gaze caught on something left on the desk. Fifty yuan and a cigarette.

A laugh bitterly forced its way through his throat. Goddamn that guy.

(21) Epilogue

Somehow when they arrived at the hotel for Glory Worlds, there was a mix-up. A double-booking for the same room left one person on the team without a bed.

"Ye Xiu, I'll sleep with Yunxiu and you can have my bed." Su Mucheng insisted.

"No, no, no. Girls need their beauty sleep after all. Ye Xiu can sleep with me!" Fang Rui crowed.

"Sleep is for the weak! Ye Xiu, let's PKPKPK all night!" Huang Shaotian hugged him from behind.

"I think our coach deserves some sleep, Shaotian. Ye Xiu, you can always sleep with me," offered Yu Wenzhou.

"Their room will likely be too loud to sleep in with someone yapping away all night. Ye Xiu, come to my room," Wang Jiexi took Ye Xiu's hand.

Zhou Zekai gave him sparkly shoujo eyes. "Coach...?"

Ye Xiu pulled himself away from their grip.

And slung a casual arm around Sun Xiang.

What.

"Guys, don't worry. I'll just sleep with Xiang-ge."

Silence.

"Wait, what?! Don't just invite yourself over!" Sun Xiang protested.

Ye Xiu fake pouted. "How can you be so cruel, Xiang-ge? When we've even shared a bed before?"

Everyone froze.

Sun Xiang felt his face go red. During his time at Samsara he had grown up a little. He had _learned things_.

"Don't say it like that!" He flailed his arms wildly at the rest of the team. "We did share a bed, but it's not what you're thinking of! It was only a business transaction!"

Zhang Xinjie fainted.

Ye Xiu, the damn bastard, laughed.


End file.
